Qualifiers for PokerStars Land Based Events Offered Through Full Tilt

Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 by Ryan

In a new world of online poker, things are more than just a bit different than the past. Years ago, we would see the two juggernauts of the online poker world in PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker simply going at it as major rivals. We saw the two sites always ranking in the top two, and there was never really anyone who could touch the top spots between these two massive sites, as they ran some of the best all-around games, including both cash and tournaments. The tournaments specifically would consistently offer some of the largest guarantees out there, and they drew in a massive number of players as well. Many players would actually choose to play on both sites, since they both offered such great options to the players. Whether players were getting ready for the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) at PokerStars, or the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), or looking for the largest named players in the game playing on the sites, there was always a ton of action going on.

An edge that we could constantly find that favored PokerStars over Full Tilt though, was the option for the live tournaments. Regardless of what tournament you were looking for that isn’t named the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour, it was likely that PokerStars had its name attached to it in some way. This was a huge boost for PokerStars, and throughout the years we’ve seen players able to possibly qualify for these big time events through PokerStars satellites online, and it was a huge opportunity for players, and it was one that they definitely enjoy.

If you want to talk about things making a big change, you can look at the fact that Full Tilt Poker is now offering online satellites to quite a few of the different PokerStars-sponsored live poker tours that are run throughout the world. There are going to be many different tournaments included in the satellites, such as things like the UK & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT), the Brazilian Series of Poker, the Eureka Poker Tour, and also the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT). There are many events that you can take part in, and while these may not be the most known events out there, they definitely have great chances for players to make some serious money.

The UKIPT for example has been running since back in 2009, and in total we’ve seen it give out more than €16.5 million in prize money throughout the time that they’ve been up and running. Interestingly though, the next event that we’ll see running in this series is going to be held on June 12th through June 16th, and it is going to be played in Marbella, Spain, and the name is the PokerStars Marbella Festival.

The Eureka Poker Tour is going to feature events that will run in both Central and Eastern Europe at quite a few different locations. This is currently Season 3 of the event series, and we’ve seen a stop in the Czech Republic already happen, and the next stop on the tour is going to be in Dubrovnik, Croatia, at the Golden Sun Casino. There are also two additional stops on top of this, with one in Bulgaria in July, and then a long break for the series until it moves to Prague in December.

The last two event series’ that we’ll look at is the Brazilian Series of Poker and the ANZPT. The Brazilian Series of Poker has eight “steps” schedule on it, as this event isn’t quite at the point where they are large enough to be considered a tour. There have been different tournaments held throughout some great locations though already, such as Bahia, Parana, and Sao Paulo, with the next one taking place in Rio de Janiero at the end of May. The final event, which is called the BSOP Grand Final, will be held on November 27th through December 4th at Sao Paulo. The ANZPT is probably one of the most popular on this list though, and it includes different series’ stops in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Auckland, and Queenstown. There is also an event at the end of May here at the Crown Melbourne casino.